Contents

Blurb

At long last Ash's egg hatches, a Phanpy emerging to finally put everyone's curiosity to rest. Ash and friends' excitement is matched only by that of Jessie and James of Team Rocket, who see in the newly hatched Pokemon a chance to redeem themselves with Giovanni. Full of youthful vigor, the Phanpy quickly escapes Ash and goes off on its own, now pursued by both Team Rocket and Ash's party. Ash and Pikachu finally set out together after this stray Pokémon and continue to be frustrated in attempt after attempt at its capture.

Plot

While camping out for the night, Misty notices a light coming out of Ash's backpack. Ash gets out the egg case because the Egg is starting to hatch. They all wonder what might hatch out of the Egg. Team Rocket, who plans on stealing the Pokémon, waits nearby. The Egg hatches into a Phanpy! Ash checks it out with Dexter and wonders where its Poké Ball is. Brock reminds him that the Poké Ball is on the case, so he takes it and tries to return Phanpy, who jumps out of the way. Ash tries again, but Phanpy continues to dodge the beam. Brock suggests that some food might convince Phanpy to listen. Ash gets out some food, but before the Phanpy could get to it, Team Rocket snatches it with a hand. Pikachu shocks them with a Thunderbolt, and hits Phanpy as well. Team Rocket blasts off, and Phanpy is still a little shocked from the jolt. Pikachu tries to comfort it but a spark sends Phanpy running. Ash tries to run after Phanpy without luck.

The group splits up in search of Phanpy. Brock leaves some food out to attract it when a bush near him wiggles about. Brock grabs at it; however, it ends up being Misty's Psyduck, with a mouthful of Brock's food. Ash and Pikachu look about, but Pikachu feels completely at fault. Ash comforts Pikachu, knowing they'll find Phanpy eventually.

Deeper in the woods, Phanpy runs about, and the electricity is wearing off. Phanpy looks around for Ash, but then realizes it's hungry; Phanpy decides to follow a pleasant smell of food. The aroma comes from Team Rocket, who Meowth is cooking toast over a fire. Jessie and James sulk in their failure to get the Phanpy but Meowth cheers them up a bit. When Meowth is about to eat his toast, Phanpy steals it before he can eat it. Meowth ends up biting his hand. Meowth goes hysterical noticing that the toast disappeared, but Jessie and James don't seem to care and start eating. Phanpy swipes their toast as well. When Meowth looks around for what happened, he sees Phanpy standing there, finishing the toast. Meowth tries to scold Phanpy but it tackles Meowth. Meowth looks the other way for a while, with his tail waving at Phanpy, who seems to like it.

The group meets up although nobody found Phanpy. Then Jessie and James appear out of a bush, dressed up in weird jumpsuits and helmets. Ash gives them a few remarks until Meowth shows up with Phanpy. Ash tries to call Phanpy to him, but Meowth goes up in front of Pikachu, waving his tail which is painted like a Phanpy. Phanpy gets excited and runs towards them, but Meowth quickly dodges, hitting Pikachu instead. James whips out the same hand and grabs Pikachu. He tries to shock them with Thunderbolt but the suits make Jessie and James invulnerable to electricity. Then, James releases his Weezing to make a Smokescreen. With the smoke, Team Rocket is long gone.

Team Rocket celebrates their catch with a toast of milk. Phanpy looks like he wants some as well but James puts Phanpy in a cage where Pikachu is. Pikachu plans that they should bash the cage so it rolls down the cliff. They bash the side of the cage twice and it rolls down, breaking when it smashes into a tree. James hears the crash and goes over to see that the cage is gone, and Meowth then sees the two Pokémon running away. Team Rocket hops into their balloon and chases after them. The group sees the balloon and rushes towards it. Both Pokémon and the group are stopped by a raging river.

It looks like the two have no choice but to jump. Pikachu makes the first jump across to a stone, telling Phanpy to jump too. Phanpy does, though not really as well as Pikachu. Pikachu hops to another stone, Phanpy following but misses and goes in. Pikachu grabs Phanpy, causing both Pokémon to hang on the rock; Pikachu slips! Ash runs along the river to find something to get them. Pikachu grabs another rock that happens to be under a tree. Ash climbs up with a rope and tries to grab Pikachu and Phanpy. He manages to get Pikachu but Phanpy slips away. With no other option, Ash jumps into the river, despite the waterfall nearby. As soon as he falls down, Ash tosses the rope to the others, saving Phanpy.

After the short refresher from the waterfall, Team Rocket arrives on the scene. Meowth does the Phanpy trick, but Phanpy is not so happy about Team Rocket this time. Jessie and James send out their Pokémon. Ash lets Phanpy go up for battle and Phanpy does a Rollout attack, which knocks the Team Rocket's Pokémon back. Pikachu lets off a Thunderbolt, and though it doesn't affect Jessie and James, but it affects the whole balloon. The balloon explodes and they blast off.

Trivia

This episode was initially going to be called "Phanpy's Phantastic Arrival".

Phanpy is supposed to be 73.9 pounds, or 33.5 kilograms, but people are still able to hold it, along with Pikachu, which is able to somewhat effectively bear its weight. Although this may be due to the fact that Phanpy is just a newborn, even more absurd occurrences have happened in Mass Hip-Po-Sis!.

Even though Meowth says that the paint he put on his tail doesn't wash off and that it took a long time for him to paint it, the paint is missing between the two scenes where Meowth is using his tail as bait, exposing Meowth's normal brown tail.

Errors

Although Phanpy is a Ground-type, it was affected by Thunderbolt. However, this could be due to Phanpy's newborn state; its natural protection from Electric-type attacks may not have set in yet.

When Ash and his friends see the Meowth Balloon, which is chasing Pikachu and Phanpy, they follow it. When they find Pikachu and Phanpy, they are already on the other side of the river.

Even though Phanpy had just hatched out of its Egg, Ash tells it to return in its Poké Ball even though it hadn't been caught yet.

Pikachu's left red cheek mark sticks out while looking for Phanpy.

When the group meets up after searching for Phanpy, Ash and Misty's shoes are completely white.

When Ash hangs upside down from a tree to grab Pikachu and Phanpy, his hat is completely red.

When Wobbuffet pops out of his Poké Ball, he already has a wineglass of milk in his hand.

Dub edits

In the Japanese version, there is a 23-second scene of Pikachu and Phanpy running away from Team Rocket and when they reach the river, it cuts to the commercial break. Afterwards, the same footage is played again.

The dub's commercial break is after Team Rocket has gotten away with Pikachu and Phanpy.